Upon U.G.'s return to Bangalore Chandrasekhar was going through some old files from the "archives", and Nagaraj was sitting comfortably on the sofa reading some magazine when U.G.

The belief that there is progress and we are more advanced than our ancestors has duped modern generations. It will surprise many to realize that the hypothesis of progress arose only in the nineteenth century, particularly after the Renaissance, when man's attention turned from spiritual to material advancement.

Once during a visit to the Ashram in the I940s I was sitting outside the Old Hall with many devotees, facing Sri Bhagavan (Ramana Maharishi) who was reclining on a couch. A group of learned pandits were discussing certain passages from the Upanishads with great enthusiasm and profundity.

I will try to present before you the secret of India, what India means. If those whose eyes have been blinded by the glamour of material things, whose whole dedication of life is to eating and drinking and enjoying, whose ideal of possession is lands and gold...

Unless you know where you stand, it is never possible for you to have a correct knowledge of things. I say you do not know where you stand. You say, "I am stout," "I am lean," "I walk," "I sit," "I move," etc. Here you identify yourself with the physical body.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued that we are inherently good, but we become corrupted by the evils of society. We are born good - and that is our natural state. In later life he wished to live a simple life, to be close to nature and to enjoy what it gives us - a concern said to have been fostered by his father.

I was sitting with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi one afternoon in the fledgling settlement called Maharishi Nagar, about fifty miles west of New Delhi. We were alone in the modest house he occupies, surrounded by the school and hospital buildings that were still under construction.

Arjan Dev, the youngest of three sons of Guru Ram Das, was the favorite grandson of Guru Amar Das.

How do I know if my guru is taking me for a ride? Let's come to it directly. Let me tell you, you are always being taken for a ride, because you are still not yet in that state where I can either expose or impose or even tell you what Enlightenment is about.

Fools make you laugh. Fools keep you happy. Fools are very essential. God is bored with wise people. He likes fools. He loves fools. Even the job of God is very foolish. Why does He make leaves fall every autumn? He does it over and over again.